Throughout Scottish history,
many people believed in fairies. They were a part of everyday life, as real to people as the sunrise, and as incontrovertible
as the existence of God. While fairy belief was only a fragment of a much larger complex, the implications of studying this
belief tradition are potentially vast, revealing some understanding of the worldview of the people of past centuries.

This book, the first modern study of the subject, examines the history and nature of fairy belief, the major themes and motifs,
the demonising attack upon the tradition, and the attempted reinstatement of the reality of fairies at the end of the seventeenth
century, as well as their place in ballads and in Scottish literature.

Authors: Lizanne Henderson is a member of the Strathclyde University School of Scottish Studies. Edward J. Cowan is Professor of
Scottish History at the University of Glasgow.